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In an age of repeated crises, these Texans are creating mutual aid networks to help neighbors in need

Community organizations and individuals helped many Texans weather this month’s ice storm. Extreme weather heightens demand for their help — but it can also stress their resources.

Linda Jackson, Corey Roberson and Sasha Rose, an organizer with Austin Mutual Aid, all fold clothing at the Washatopia laundromat in Austin on Feb. 7, 2023. “We provided the blankets, but [the help] shouldn’t stop there. What we’re trying to do is fill in the gaps,” said Rose, explaining just giving people blankets without support for caring for their things just creates another problem.

Volunteers prepare meals for distribution in Dallas with Harvest Project Food Rescue, a non-profit that organized a warming shelter and resource distribution for community recovery after the winter storm.
Volunteer Christian Gonzalez packs blankets and warm clothes to be distributed in Dallas after the winter storm. She was one of over a hundred volunteers that came to help with Harvest Project Food Rescue's efforts to help the under-resourced across Dallas.

Preparing for the next crisis 

Linda Jackson and Corey Roberson work together to hold down and bind up a sleeping bag after pulling it from the dryer at the Washatopia laundromat in Austin on Feb. 7, 2023.
Corey Roberson wheels a cart full of blankets and clothing out of the Washatopia laundromat after doing laundry for himself and five of his neighbors in Austin on Feb. 7, 2023.

Money gets tight, but communities pull together

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